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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It would be unfair to call the recipe a complete dud, but, boy, oh, boy, it sure comes close. The recipe was originally developed for Martha Stewart's website and I really expected more from it than was delivered. I wanted to try a few new desserts this week and the Silver Fox's birthday gave me the perfect excuse to experiment. We all know you get what you pay for. This cake, chosen for its ease of preparation, is the cook's corollary of that old adage. The cake, while relatively expensive to make, was easy to assemble and took about 15 minutes to prepare. There were hints of problems along the way. Warning flags should have been raised when the recipe directed folding whipped cream into a mixture that had the consistency of semi-set concrete. I blithely soldiered on, convinced that somehow it would all come together and a miracle would occur. It didn't. Six hours later, I had a dry, grainy cheesecake with close to no flavor, despite the copious use of orange liqueur and chocolate. I have no one to blame for this fiasco other than myself. After weeks of suggesting you read the comments submitted by followers of recipe sites, I failed to follow my own advice. Everyone of the problems I encountered had been experienced by others who attempted the recipe. Had I taken the time to read them, I could have spared myself a lot of grief and some serious coin. While I did not care for this cake, there were folks who did, so I'm including it here with a caution. Sorry, Martha. The cake is dense, grainy and strangely flavorless, but if you want to try it, here's the recipe.

Directions:1) Prepare pan: Remove sides from a 9-inch round springform pan. Place a sheet of waxed paper over bottom, leaving an overhang; lock sides onto bottom, firmly securing paper. Spray inside of pan with cooking spray; line sides with a strip of waxed paper 28 inches long and 4 inches wide.2) Make chocolate-ricotta mixture: Break 12 ounces of chocolate into pieces. Place in a heatproof medium bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted, 8 to 10 minutes.3) In a food processor, blend ricotta until very smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl. Add warm chocolate; blend until smooth. In a large bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chocolate-ricotta mixture.4) Assemble cake: Arrange half of cookies in an overlapping pattern to cover bottom of pan. Spoon half of chocolate-ricotta mixture on top of cookies; smooth top. Cover with remaining cookies; top with remaining chocolate-ricotta mixture, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.5) Before serving, release sides of pan and remove waxed paper from sides. Using bottom piece of waxed paper, pull cake onto a platter; with a metal spatula, lift cake and remove waxed paper. Using a vegetable peeler, shave remaining 2 ounces chocolate over top of cake. With a knife dipped in hot water, cut cake into 10 slices (wipe off knife, and dip in hot water after each slice). Yield: 10 servings.

Why is it that this kind of recipe failure usually happens when its a special occassion or company is coming? Thank you for posting this informatin, saved a lot of people from making it. Did you make the Silver Fox something else?

Ugh - I hate when I take the time and buy the ingredients to make something and it's a dud. It just drives me crazy!!! I know the feeling too when you realize that something is not quite right. I have learned though to not let it get to me. I used to literally fling things like this in the trash and swear to never bake again!!! LOL....I have to say though that the cake does look wonderful!

Mary, I am still holding my sides from the chuckle I am enjoying! So sorry your cake was less than expected, but I am sure it was delicious despite its not meeting your high standards. I so enjoyed that even you occasionally have outcomes that do not please yourself. Gives us mere mortals hope. ;) I am sure whatever you whip up today will wipe this experience right out of your mind! blessings ~ tanna

Ugh! Hate when that happens! But if it's any consolation - you still managed to make it look delicious :) I feel the same way about reading reviews. I am nervous cooking from cookbooks these days, because I am so dependent on reviews :)

Sorry this didn't work out for you. Over the years, I have tried a couple of Martha's recipes and was never impressed. I am not sure if any of the recipes are tested before they are posted on her site.

I have to say though that sometime the comments are wrong and you have to go on your own judgement, it's a learning curve! But for what it's worth you have photographed it beautifully and it looks very good :)

You know I have heard the same comment for some other dessert recipes from Martha's page or magazines. Maybe they just put the recipe without even testing, or the test kitchen chefs might not have sweet tooth or something. Thanks for the review. I also made a mousse from her site, and found it lacking taste a couple months ago, it just went to the trash bin because we did not care for it. No Martha recipes for a while!

Yesterday my husband said he was going to make a ginger cake. Good, I thought--something that I can post while "under the weather". My first bite told me something was not right. It was spicy hot on my ailing tongue. "This is really gingery" I gasped. "How much ginger?" "Three tablespoons" he answered. WHAT? I looked at the recipe from the Chicago Tribune and that's what it called for--obviously a mistake. You win some and lose some! Your icebox cake looks good.

Oh, even Martha is not perfect! I thought I was the only one who has hard time with cheese cakes! Thanks for your assessment of the recipe, this will for sure help lots of bakers who would like to try this recipe in future. Have a great day Mary!Cheers

I understand how disappointing it is to spend a long time creating something that does not work. I definitely will not be trying this one. :) With cheesecake the recipe really does make a huge difference.

I'm not a fan of cheescake, but I agree with your advice. I always read the comments for a recipe that is out of my comfort zone. Sorry that it didn't work out, but I think I lke these kinds of posts almost as much as the ones that have great results. We've all been there...

I love the way this looks I truly want to try this and printed it out... now reading your reviews I diffinitely am not too sure knowing your opinion would surely make me reconsider.. I love the chocolate and just am use to Grandma's lemon flavor, thanks for your reviews.. I am torn on this one.. the family loves the chocolate and havent tried yet!

I saw the name of your cake and thought, probably just like you, wow this sure sounds good. Too bad, how disappointing especially when you use all those ingredients and the result is more of a dud than the delicious cake you were expecting. I've tried recipes for cookies from MS that I thought were disappointing, oh well, baker beware!

It looks really good and was thinking of trying it until I read the post. It is so true, it is so important to read comments. Just because something is online it doesn't mean it is foolproof, or good! Thank you for reminding us!

The idea of the cake sounds really fabulous. Too bad it did not work out. I have to say in my experience I have had several Martha recipes that went awry. Same thing- I should have heeded the warning signs but pressed on. Convinced of her vast knowledge base. Now I mainly use her recipes as a guide if I use them=basically not trusting her baked stuff unless I have seen similar things done.

We made a version of this in a cooking class, except it also had 1/2 cup mascarpone and only 1/2 cup whipping cream. I just tried making the recipe at home using 1 cup mascarpone and skipping the 1/2cup heavy cream. The texture is softer (like tiramisu), but perfectly smooth (not grainy; I thought I was going to burn out my Cuisinart motor trying to get it smooth!!). It still seems to lack flavor, though, and it was certainly expensive to make (I paid close to $10 for the ricotta, about $6 for the mascarpone and $4 for the chocolate wafers). Wish I'd read the comments at Martha Stewart first!!!

We made a very similar version in a cooking class that called for 1/2 cup mascarpone and 1/2 cup whipped cream; we had the same issue of trying to fold the cream into the chocolate mixture (it ended up like concrete!). I just tried making the recipe at home using 1 cup mascarpone instead of the cream, and the texture is perfectly velvety like tiramisu, but it still seems to be lacking in flavor despite the high-end chocolate. Wish I'd read this blog (and the comments over at Martha Stewart) before spending $20 on ingredients!!

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